First Not-For-Profit Grocery Store Opens In Massachusetts

Dorchester, MA – While he is no longer working for Trader Joe’s, former company president Doug Rauch is back in the grocery store business.

On June 4, Rauch opened the first not-for-profit grocery store in the country, named The Daily Table, in Dorchester, Mass.

“Our job at Daily Table is to provide healthy meals that are no more expensive than what people are already buying,” Rauch said in an interview with The Boston Globe. “We’re trying to reach a segment of the population that is hard to reach. It’s the working poor who are out buying food, but who can’t afford the food they should be eating.”

The store is able to sell groceries cheaper because of the surplus of products and good that are quickly approaching their “sell-by” dates. For example, the store sells a dozen eggs for $1.19, a box of cereal for $0.70 and a can of tuna for $0.55.

Rauch was able to purchase more than half of the company’s products at a reduced price from farmers, supermarkets, manufactures and food distributors.

Being a not-for-profit organization, The Daily Table sells products at a slightly higher price than what they purchase them for. The money brought in from sales is used to cover the cost of labor, rent, food, trucking, storing and other operational expenses.

The store is located at 450 Washington Street in Dorchester, MA and is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

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